Vae Victis

Lorec was unresponsive toward Tyra, and continued to send out power throughout the entire body of the stone ursa. His eyes stared directly at Tyra, blank and glowing, as if he were asleep with his eyes open. His entire consciousness had gone into powering the gargantuan stone war machine, and it had reflected earlier, as though Lorec was indeed the great bear himself. Perhaps a well placed strike could bring him out of his little trance...

Within the ursa's body, one could digress that it was definitely not a living organism. It was almost completely hollow, save for the same goldish-brown life force energy flowing to multiple portions of the body, creating a kind of skeleton that worked as a base for the outer stone shell. Any warrior with at least half a brain could assume that, by following the steady stream of power that outlined the beast's skeletal portions, that they could find the epicenter of the beast's heart; Lorec. The stream that ran up the esophagus was convening with the other streams, in what would've been the ursa's stomach, as it just appeared as a giant, hollowed out cavern, with Lorec kneeling over, palms on the ground, and the aura exuding from him and into the body of the beast. His eyes were pupil-less, and glowing as well. His face looked as though he were in a trance...

As the great ursa arose to a bipedal position as it had succeeded in sending Tyra high into the air, it pointed it's head skywards, and slowly, opened its mouth wide, revealing a great set of stone teeth, and roaring loud enough to split the heavens! Keeping his jaws open, it was evident that he was aiming to consume Tyra! @ Kazas, smiling, chuckled ever so slightly again, and spoke. " You think so? Haha... He's never reached this level before. I think... That Tyra can help him push even further...."

The Stone ursa kept on bucking violently, trying to send Tyra off skyward. Giving one more powerful push off of the ground, the Ursa bucked onto it's two hind legs with all of it's might, attempting to send Tyra straight into the sky! Kazas, inching over to Vera a little, started to intertwine his tail with hers playfully, while smiling. He spoke to Her in his signature, calming voice. " Really? You went white as a sheep all of a sudden..."

The Ursa, after falling for a few seconds more, crashed into the earth violently, making an excessively large impact crater that was at least 300 feet in radius, and sending a maelstrom of debris skyrocketing into the air, almost akin to a volcano's eruption. Stunned from the plummet, the great Ursa's rock armor was nigh cracked heavily on the underside, once more revealing part of its true, metaphysical make-up. Face down against the ground, the Ursa slowly rose again, this time, with Tyra on his backside! As if he were a bull that was extremely frustrated at its rider, the great Ursa began to buck, to-and-fro, violently trying to shake Tyra off. Kazas knew that Tyra was more of the quiet type, and wasn't really expecting a full answer from Vera. However, there was a very faint nervous laughter in her previous statement... Was something wrong? " Vera... Is everything okay?"

Falling at a fast past, the Ursa was seemingly speaking to Tyra as he was attempting to crush her. " Krigare Tyra! Are you so helpless as to let yourself be crushed in such a dishonorable manner?!?" ________________ @ Kazas, almost by instinct, reached for Vera's hoof, almost having a knowing grin upon his face. He spoke... Seemingly not surprised by the events that had taken place. " Amazing... Is it not Vera? As you are my beloved, the others will warm to you as well, and you will have more companions who genuinely care about you. Of course.... That is, depending on how much time we spend with them, versus how much time we spend alone. They might get jealous..." He said, with a slight chuckle.

Falling at a fast past, the Ursa was seemingly speaking to Tyra as he was attempting to crush her. " Krigare Tyra! Are you so helpless as to let yourself be crushed in such a dishonorable manner?!?" ________________ @ Kazas, almost by instinct, reached for Vera's hoof, almost having a knowing grin upon his face. He spoke... Seemingly not surprised by the events that had taken place. " Amazing... Is it not Vera? As you are my beloved, the others will warm to you as well, and you will have more companions who genuinely care about you. Of course.... That is, depending on how much time we spend with them, versus how much time we spend alone. They might get jealous..." He said, with a slight chuckle.

After getting into position, a moment of stillness dominated the Ursa, as if it were gathering all of its might for the next action that it would perform. And, after what seemed like 15 seconds, the Ursa, roaring and causing an echo throughout the desolate plains, lept high into the air, ascending in a straight line, and causing a tremor along the ground! It was almost impossible to measure how far off the ground that the Ursa had jumped, but one thing was for certain... At the apex of the jump, one could probably guess that they were at most, 600ft off of the ground. As the Ursa reached it's maximum potential for the jump, it spread out it's limbs. It was very clear what the bear was trying to do. It was trying to pancake Tyra between itself and the ground, and velocity was increasing, fast! The only way Tyra would come out unharmed, was if she could make her way onto his backside, or maybe even just the back of the paw....

Failing to send Tyra back to the ground, the great stone Ursa stopped shaking, and stood still while growling. Tyra was a feisty little fighter, that was definitely certain. If he could not force Tyra off... Then prehaps he could smash her between himself and the ground! Slowly bending his knees as if to lunge for unsuspecting prey, it was then that the stone Ursa started to run forwards, away from the crevice and in the opposite direction, towards the river that surrounded the valley. then, when he had achieved enough distance from the crevice, the bear would then bend it's knees, as if poised to leap....

finally able to climb out of the pit, the great Ursa began to try and shake wildly, like a dog, attempting to knock Tyra off and have her plummet quite a distance. Now that Lorec was on all fours and out of the crevice, it would be a vertical climb for Tyra. Having been struck by Tyra's axe, stone was peeling off and dropping down below, to the ground. However, it almost seemed as if it were of no consequence to Lorec. Still shaking like a wild dog, the great Ursa would do everything to throw Tyra off.

The great stone Ursa was too slow in trying to swat Tyra like a fly on a wall, and his paw crashed upon the ground, sending tremors throughout the entire area. However, this did provide him the opportunity to escape from the crevice that he created, as both paws were on the ground, he began to climb out, not paying attention to Tyra.

As if the earth itself were a snake.... The stone, from where The great golden Ursa had struck it's paw in order to climb upward, had begun to seemingly... Crawl up the Ursa's arm, and slowly started to creep and cover it's entire body, as if the earth itself was his armor. He was quite literally absorbing the earth, and using it as a shell to contain the form he was now in! However, the makeshift stone armor would be weak in some areas around his entire body... Perhaps those could be used as attack points? As he was calling forth the stone to protect himself, Lorec also was still raising his now gargantuan right paw high into the air, attempting to bring it down hard on Tyra! While the impact was certain to have an extreme level of raw, kinetic force, it was also to be an excessively slow attack, given the size of the beast! But had Lorec really become this monster, or, was he controlling it somewhere from within... __________ [KAZAS AND THE OTHERS] Kazas's single eye widened in shock and disbelief. Lorec had finally done it... He had ascended past the second phase of the keepers, and had managed to externalize the wasted energy from soul infusion into maintaining a definitive shape; that of a great Ursa! Kazas, relaxing, had a strange, knowing smile on his face... But why was he so relaxed after appearing so tense? Syuren, still with a hoof around Sifana, dropped his jaw. " holy....." Sifana, immediately stopping all semblance of mourning, looked on in awe. " is that... Papa?" Alrahm, stroking his beard, started to cast a spell, his horn glowing a faint white. From within his robes, a small journal appeared, along with a quill and ink. Floating in air, the book opened, and the quill dabbed itself in the ink, and began to write. Already on the page was a sketch of Lorec, along with some information written down in shorthoof notes. He appeared to be updating this particular section of his logs..... And finally, Vorrin, sitting quietly for the duration of the match, spoke softly. " so, big guy... This really was what you were looking for... Wasn't it..." _____________ [NAGA] the monk had bowed his head as Caliber had taken off, and attempted to resume to talk to the bouncer to get back in... He would try to drop names, would that the bouncer would believe that he knew the ones whose names he would drop. He would wait outside, ears downward and deeply discouraged, hoping that maybe someone could help get him inside...

The quaking of the earth would eventually cease, and the light from the crevice would eventually fade away. However, it was evident that this silent prelude was but only a calm before the storm. Nothing but dead silence... Without any semblance of warning... A large, golden object came shooting out of the crevice, and seemingly latched on to the edge of the opening. Upon closer inspection, it was a massive paw, slamming down and causing tremors in the surrounding area! The paw itself was massive in scale, nearly rivaling the size of a house in itself! It had smashed into the ground approximately 20 feet away from where Tyra had been knocked away! It was surging with pure energy from the soul, and even seemed somewhat metaphysical! And it was then that this seemingly gargantuan creature poked its head out of the crevice, trying to climb back to ground level for all to see... It was that of an Ursa... An Ursa Major, golden in appearance, with white eyes that could send fear through any prey. Having a clear glimpse of Tyra, the great beast roared with an ungodly amount of force, and closed it's mouth, continuing in snarling. It was then that a deep, distorted version of Lorec's voice could be heard. " Krigare Tyra!!!! Here I am! " It was then that the great golden Ursa pulled up on the Cliff using his left paw, and the right one then came into view, rising from the crevice along with much of the great Ursa's body! The great bear was coming for Tyra!

It was then that an extremely potent light immediately shot through the opening of the crevice, along with an exponential amount of raw power, brownish-gold. An indication that Lorec was very much alive... The force of the raw amount of energy was quite possibly enough to knock anyone on their backside. And, from the crevice... Something was stirring.

Taking another step backwards towards the crevice, he slowly spread his arms out, as if he were about to give a great hug to another. With the soul in one hand, and his other free, The familiar aura once again returned to Lorec. He simply smiled at her, not returning any words. And it was then, that he voluntarily fell backwards into the newly formed crevice, and plummeted into the dark below. Just what was he planning?.... ___________ [KAZAS] The griffon, rising from his seat, was greatly shocked in what he had seen! Had Lorec gone mad? What was he planning? He had faith that Lorec was very much alive, and had a plan. However, whatever it was, seemed drastic. Sifana, watching the fight as Syuren held her with his hug, watched silently in terror. Why had he jumped... A collective gasp came from near the keepers of the D.R.O. It was Lorec's branch of the acolytes. They had been cheering him on as they watched the two in brutal battle. But now, of course, they could not comprehend what they had just seen...

" spare a few bits?" Naga said, in a small laugh and pulling away from Caliber. " Cal, ya really went n' forgot who yer pal really is?" He said, winking. He reached into the fold of his Eiquetan garments, and pulled out an ornate, red coin bag from about where his breastbone would be. He lightly tugged at the string with his teeth, and the bag was opened. " Best thing about Havin' friends in really, really, realllllyyyyy high places is that ya always know they can help you out with yer problems! And the icing on the hotdog is, because I'm a monk, others tend to think I'm a sorta drifter without a bit to his name, an' I don't get mugged, heh!" Holding the bag open from his mouth, he reached in, and pulled out several, solid gold bits. Worth a pretty penny. Just one was probably enough to buy 10 dinners with royalty alone. He counted seven in all, and tucked away the coin purse back into the fold of his grabs, keeping the seven that he had taken out in his other hoof. He extended it to Caliber, offering it as a token of friendship. " Heh! Mi'lord always sends me off with more than I can spend! Hope this is enough. When yer done, tell me what a ' date ' is! Here's some coinage to get ya through yer... Well.. I dunno, month? Months? Year? Ahhhh, it just depends on how ya spend it!" In addition to not knowing what a date was, he had also spoken of icing. On a hotdog. If one had clearly not noticed that Naga was from out of town, they would have, now.

Lorec, arms crossed and now profusely bleeding from the mouth as both his internals were being strained and from Tyra's blows. Chuckling to himself, he spoke. " I'm not so sure, myself. All I know is, is that Viruden has spoken to me. He says that it is time for me to ' ascend '... You see, I've never taken the power of the Ursa King beyond the second stage, which is the soul infusion that you have seen putting great strain on my body in exchange for greater rending of earth, and a massive increase in strength. Of course, against you, it is not enough..." He said, grinning. He looked over his shoulder, and towards the newly formed crevice. " This pit, Tyra... It is a representation of my hunger. And that hunger is nearly insatiable. My hunger for fighting, and my thirst for raw power... I'm not afraid to admit that those are apart of me anymore. I've spent so much time fighting myself, trying to say ' no, I'm better than this.' But alas, I am not..." He then turned his head back to Tyra, and spoke. " I have... No inkling as to what happens next, Tyra. The only thing I know to do now... Is completely immerse myself in my greed." It was then that the primordial soul slowly ejected itself from his chest. Lorec, reaching for it, grabbed on to it as only he could, and held it in front of him, looking down at it, mesmerizied in thought. Then, looking back at Tyra, he... Took a small step backward... Toward the crevice. What was he doing... Was he planning to throw himself off of the ledge?!? _________ [KAZAS] Kazas sat there, watching on as his companion was about to seemingly toss himself into the abyss. His heart was throbbing, not knowing what Lorec was about to do. Sifana, sitting next to Syuren, was crying profusely, whimpering and shaking. " Papa!!!!! Why are you doing this...? Don't leave me here alone...!" Sifana, rising from her seat, attempted to run down the steps and toward the arena, but Syuren stopped her before she could, barely holding her. " ayyyy, easy, Sifana! C'mon, ya can't just waltz on down there! Lorec's in the middle of a fight!" Struggling to try and get to her father, she tried to pull away from Syuren. " But he's about to... He's about to die! Brother Ren, he's in pain!" Syuren, instinctively, pulled Sifana in close... And wrapped a hoof around her, hugging her. " Siffy, look. Now I'm ya older sworn bro, right? I know ya dad. And he's the toughest sonova' bitch I've ever seen. He's been in way worse scraps than this. I promise ya. He'll be 'aight, okay? Medical bill is gonna suck, but he ain't gonna leave ya here alone. He loves you way too much to pull that crap. If he falls into that hole, then he's got plans for it!" Sifana, comforted by Syuren's words, began to calm down a tad. It was then that Alrahm felt something... Strange from the battle. As if a change were about to occur, drastic and great. Almost blindsided by this pony, it didn't take long for him to recognize Caliber, and he smiled widely. " Oi! And there be the first thing to cross off the ol' list! How've you been, my friend? It's good ta finally see the keeper of this ol' monk's secret well an' in a good bit of health!" He said, ignoring personal space and hugging Caliber. " I missed the living Naraka outta you! Bein' back in the land of the livin' is truly a great experience! So, whaddya been doing fer the past few months? Fightin' as well as the monkey king, me hopes!"

Eventually stopping about two hundred feet before reaching the fort, he had managed to put quite a large amount of space between him and Tyra. He turned around to face Tyra, and got back up into bipedal position. Instead of taking an offensive posture, he simply stomped his left hoof into the ground ferociously. Aura triggering violently around him again, cracks in the earth appeared to travel behind him, and spread out in a horizontal line once they had traveled 5 feet from him, in the shape of a T. Once this had started, the cracks began to rapidly travel faster in opposite directions, and ended at about 50 ft away from the starting point of the earth shift in either direction. It was then.... That this large, wide line of earth began to cave in on itself, producing a violent earthquake, and opening what seemed to be a deep, fathomless crevice, right behind where Lorec was standing with arms crossed! So deep it was, that it was pitch black, and Lorec stood there, on the edge of this newly formed pit to the underground, his hooves on the edge. He was waiting for her to get there... What was he planning? ____________

Lorec, sent reeling backward from the punch, let go of the axe, and nearly toppled over from his loss of balance. As he was reeling, he planted his sword in the ground quickly to stop the motion, eventually forcing himself to stop. Breathing heavy, he snarled again, and spoke in an ominously bloodthirsty tone... " it's still not enough.... I need more..." It was then that Lorec would initiate a sequence no one would expect; quickly sheathing his sword on his back, he would lean forward, and plant both hands on the ground, in what seemed to be the stance of a quadriped. Afterwards, instead of charging at Tyra, he quickly spun around in the opposite direction, and with a mighty push off from the ground, hopped out of the impact crater made from earlier, and had begun running in the direction of the fort! With a head start and on all fours, Lorec would more than easily put a great distance between he and Tyra in a short amount of time. As he did so, Lorec heard a voice in his head. The voice of his companion soul, mighty, baritone, and loud. It was the Ursa King, Viruden. ' Lorec.... It is time to ascend..." ______ [NAGA] Having followed a large crowd in order to find his way to the party, Naga was unfortunately turned away due to looking like an ' obscene weirdo ' as the bouncer had put it. Talk about culturally challenged. Hanging his head downward in defeat and walking away, he slipped his hoof into his garb, and pulled out a piece of papyrus, and unfolded it. He read it again, scanning over the text. _________________ To do list 1. Find Caliber. 2. Go on adventure with said Caliber 3. Find Crazy, electric tentacle inventor because mi'lord said so. 4. Challenge tentacle lady to a match ( Read too many Japonese comics to know where this is going.) 5. Find the guy who thought you were a hippy and totally flipped tables when you anonymously paid for the drinks in a coffee shop last time you were in Equestria. Wilhelm De Winter ( AKA: Slick Willy ) 6. Ask about Dyson Spheres. 7. If target knows nothing about Above subject, disregard with total irrelevance. Search for alternate source of information. _____________________ Looking at the list, he folded it back into his garb. Surely, someone who knew where these ponies were had to be in the party. He had to get in.... But how?

As per Lorec's nature to evolve and adapt, it was evident that Tyra favored attacks to the face. Unable to dodge completely this time, Lorec pulled another unorthodox maneuver in order to keep the battle going; timing it just right, Lorec opened his mouth, and shifting to his right, managed to narrowly dodge the blade of the axe, and bit down hard on its handle, hoping to stop the blow! of course, with himself still recovering from the recoil of a mighty swing from both himself and Tyra, he was left open for hoof attack, should Tyra decide to swing around and try it, as the momentum from him trying to stop the axe would more than likely give her extra force... ____________ @ Naga, speaking to Rune again, gave a goofy smile. " oi, maybe we should get to the party! And if we ain't cordially invited, maybe we can crawl through an air duct or something! I had a dear ol' friend o' mine who's a real natural at that sorta thing. 'Course, it's preferred if we get in the right way, an' not the bad way! Bad karma has a way of accumulatin' when yer doin' things the way they ain't meant to be done! So, what's yer name?" Naga asked Rune, excitedly. From the accent, and, well... The apparel and light show that he could pull off even though he wasn't a unicorn, could instantly peg him as a stranger from a far away land.

" Good. Then let us contin-...." Stopping immediately mid-sentence, Lorec's face ceased snarling, and immediately was painted over by a pained gaze. With his free hand, he immediately clutched his chest and heaved over, almost as if something was going horribly wrong with his innards. Opening his mouth, a small trickle of blood began to ooze out as the aura around him slowly started to calm itself. This was the cost using the power of a soul that ordnairy mortals were not meant to carry. He began to breath heavily, almost coming down to his knees, but rose back up. Pride would not allow him to kneel. Slowly taking his hand away and no longer writhing in agony, he spoke again. " It's not enough.... I need more...." He then looked at Tyra, now climbing out of the debris. Smiling with blood still trickling down his mouth, he made yet another declaration. " I always was a greedy bastard... And I'm not afraid to admit that anymore... I hope you still have a great deal left of strength, because I'm not stopping until I've had enough!" He took his zweihander into both hands, and began to charge at Tyra wildly, the energy around him returning to its violent state. He readied himself for a downward swing from the left, ready to meet any attack Tyra could throw at him.

Lorec, seeing that the great stone had hit its mark, shook his head in disappointment, and snarled as he began to walk over to his sword, still implanted within solid rock. " no..." He reached for the sword, and began to pull it out with all of his might, struggling to do so as he had implanted it deeply from the last swing. He spoke as he heaved and grunted, sounding displeased. " I did NOT choose a weakling for an honor duel.... GROOGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he let forth a mighty roar as he finally yanked his sword from the ground. Almost keeling over from pulling it out towards Tyra's general direction, Lorec steadied himself, and turned to the pile of rumble, sword in left hand, facing outward. He was aproximately ten feet away from it, and watched as the debris shifted slightly. He spoke loudly, and in a tone of prideful disappointment. " Young cub who challenges the great bear.... Is your soul so weak that you cannot even stomach the smallest rations of hell being served to you now? Tell me. Were my instincts wrong, when I thought you equal?"

Lorec did his best to react and get away from the slash. He let go of his sword, and quickly tried to get his head away from the axe by turning his body. The best he had gotten away with was the axe violently brushing against his upper right jaw. Dodging away as the axe finished grazing his face, he dashed away in a backwards direction slightly to right. He was now weaponless, but the violent power around him still persisted. Bleeding from his facial wound and Gnashing his teeth, Lorec thought back to the days of the Leovian contention... The events that had happened here, in this very spot. And he used that as fuel, for what he would do next. Lorec, as Tyra would be landing, thrust both of his arms toward the earth, kneeling down quickly. Both arms went through the earth and made craters that looked as though they were swallowing Lorec's fists. Roaring violently, Lorec began to pull upward, almost as if he were deadlifting something... And it was then, that his muscular tissue began to ripple violently in both his arms as he slowly began to stand upward. Through some ungodly, Herculean show of strength... Lorec pulled a large, asymmetrical chunk of earth bigger than himself out of the ground. He then ducked underneath it as he lifted it above his head, putting the weight of the stone upon his backside along with his arms. Lifting it as though it were a weight bar for squats, he eventually raised the chunk over his head, and looked at Tyra. With a loud yell, he pulled back the boulder with both arms, and tossed it in The direction that Tyra was landing!

Lorec brought the sword down hard upon his target. However, He would miss his quarry, instead, planting the blade deep into the earth as he slashed downward and landed. CRASH! With a thunderous echo that roared thoroughout the arena, the ground itself was rended asunder from the impact. A large shockwave of earthly debris had arisen from the ground, and was traveling in the direction of which the sword had been aimed at. Dust and stone, being thrown violently upward from the shifting of the earth below. The initial landing had left a circular crater at the point of impact, with a radius of ten feet, and at least six feet deep, with Lorec standing in the middle, aura still pulsating violently around him, veins bulging throughout his entire body as his being struggled to cope with a power that mortal bodies were never meant to contain. His sword was absolutely buried, almost all the way to the pommel, into the ground. Trying with all his might, he attempted to yank it out of the stone in which he had plunged it in, not paying any mind in what happened to Tyra. It was almost as if he had become a dumb beast, focused on only one thing; overpowering mercilessly. Still occupied with trying to yank his sword out of the ground, the Saduarian monster was gritting his teeth, like a snarling bear. ______________ @ Kazas had leaned in nervously to watch the fight. Lorec had done it. He had pushed it toward the soul infusion stage, something that he rarely ever did. Knowing that Lorec had the strongest body of the divine retribution, Kazas felt a bit relieved knowing that it would take a great deal of constant primordial energy flowing through him to actually kill him. Even still, Lorec's own soul was finite In energy, and considering that it was the keepers' life force energy that fueled the feats they performed... He could only hope that Lorec didn't push it too far for too long. Unconsciously, Kazas's tail tried to wrap up with Vera's again, indicating his nervousness. Vera probably didn't know that Kazas wasn't the only keeper of a primal soul, and would probably question what was happening. ______________ @ @ Naga had stopped his chanting as soon as the celebrations had concluded. To him, that was a celebration for the books! As soon as Night Tracer bid them adieu, the monk had waved him goodbye. " I'll be seein' you there then, new friend! Weeeeeeeelllllll.... Maybe." Naga then turned to rune, and began to speak to him excitedly. " now THAT was a show worth Chantin' for!"

As Lorec walked slowly toward Tyra in anticipation, a peculiar sight could seen from Lorec, among all of the other happenings. Blood was slowly trickling from his mouth. Just barely noticeable, but still there. His slow walk turned into a run. This time, it was more animalistic, than of a refined warrior. Smiling devilishly as he ran towards Tyra, he decided that it was his turn for a jumping attack. Leaping into the air, Lorec brought his blade over his head and back, going for an overhead swing. This swing... Was very different from his others. This overhead smash contained an extreme, raw amount of power. Would it really be intelligent for Tyra to try and take this attack head on?